Friends?
by rotten little rat
Summary: Draco and Harry had never gotten along, but they have a lot in common more than each of them realized. What happens when something brought them together? Will Draco decide to follow what his heart telling him? Will they put the past in the past? Friendship Harry and Draco. Post GoB


It had been three weeks. Three long weeks in the Surrey; in a seemingly normal house of number four in Privet Drive and well, Harry Potter found himself yet again locked in his room. It was hot and that made his room stuffy and his skin clammy. He sighed from his position on his bed and got up to walk around in his little space. Harry ran a hand through his sweaty hair and tried to cool down by flapping his big hand-me-down shirt.

"_Well, at least Hedwig's not trapped in here," _Harry thought when he glanced at his best friend's empty cage. Harry had let her out before he boarded the train and told her to wait for him at Hogwarts on the opening of the school for yet another year.

His stomach grumbled again for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Harry clutched it, thinking about his secret food stash; he only had five more pumpkin pastries, two boxes of every flavored beans and two packs of chocolate frogs. His stomach grumbled yet again and he sighed. "_A small bite wouldn't hurt…" _ Harry reasoned as he clawed the loose floor board and got out the chocolate frog.

The chocolate frog could have been swallowed with only two bites but Harry took fifteen bites and savoured the taste. He looked down at the card, Dumbledore again, he noted. The man that provided him with a home; Hogwarts, where he actually had friends; Ron and Hermoine, and most of all, the man that _**left him here**_**. **

He crushed the card in his hand, shaking with rage and throwing he crumpled card across the room with vigor. His chest heaved as he glared at the wall struggling to control his breath. Every frustration mounted on his body making his vision blurred with frustrated tears. He was vaguely aware that his bed was rattling and the door was shaking. Sleepless nights due to dreams filled with Cedric's pale and motionless face and endless chores had grinded him nearer to his breaking point.

"BOY! YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING FREAKY!" Uncle Vernon roared as he stomped up the stairs.

Harry's magical outburst stopped as fast as it started. He ran to collect the crumpled card and quickly shoved it under the floor before hastily closed it.

Numerous clicking filled the room before the door was slammed open revealing a purple-faced Vernon.

"WHAT ARE YOU UP TO, YOU UNGRATEFUL FREAK?!" screamed Vernon at his face.

Harry did not dare to answer as he watched his uncle marched up to him and clutched his clothes with a vise grip, choking him. Unfortunately for Harry, his uncle took his silence as a sign of rebellion. Vernon shook the boy in his gripped with anger that made the boy dizzy and tremble with fear.

"ANSWER ME!" Vernon yelled noting the tremors of fear with glee.

"I-It was j-just an accident, I'm sorry, p-please uncle," Harry replied, desperate for the hold to loosen its grip, it was getting harder to breath.

Vernon huffed and dragged his nephew downstairs by his neck and thrown him into the kitchen. "ACCIDENT! ACCIDENT! THE ONLY ACCIDENT HERE IS YOUR BIRTH YOU WORTHLESS FREAK!"

Dudley and Aunt Petunia were out shopping that afternoon so, there were no one else aside from Harry and his enraged uncle. Harry's heart was thumping against his chest as he scrambled away from his uncle but being in the house, there was nowhere to hide where Vernon would not find him later on.

His uncle came approaching the trembling teen who noticed the belt in his uncle's hand. Harry's face became even paler and his body was shaking with anticipation as he knew what will happen next.

"GET UP BOY! STRIP!" his uncle roared as he approached the teen who was sitting trembling by the dining table. The boy's eyes grew wide as he pleaded "Please, uncle, I-I'm sorry."

Vernon saw red and his face turned a shade darker. "I SAID GET UP AND STRIP!"

Harry jolted up with shaking hands and reluctantly took off his shirt. He then had his hands on the dining table, completely exposing his already scarred back. Tears threatened to spill his eyes but he quickly blinked them away, he didn't want to add on his punishment.

Uncle Vernon without a word laid out his nephew's punishment. The belt hit his nephew's back with a resounding 'SLAP'!

Said boy gasped and whispered "O-one."

"LOUDER BOY!"

The command made Harry clenched his eyes shut and waited for the next SLAP before crying out "Two!"

The whipping continued till Harry counted, "F-forty-f-f-five!"

Harry's back was bleeding and the blood was dripping down his legs into the carpet.

Vernon threw the belt and walked up to his trembling nephew who was on the verge of unconsciousness. The elder grabbed a fistful of the teen's hair and brought the teen's head near to his face.

"Anymore of your funny business boy, you'll wish you had never been born," Vernon said, voice oozing with venom "Clean this up and get to your room freak!"

Vernon threw his nephew's head on the table forcing the boy back to consciousness before marching out of the house. He will not spend a moment more with the _**freak**_.

Harry crumpled to the ground with tears streaming down his face. His body would not stop shaking and his back was bleeding a generous amount of blood. He wiped his face and struggled to get up. He had to clean up before the blood is permanently embedded into the carpet. After finding out that he could barely walk, he crawled to get the wet wash cloth and started to get the kitchen in perfect order. He did not want to face his Aunt and Dudley because of the mess he made.

Unbeknown to him a snowy white owl was peering through the curtains. If anyone had known any better, they would say the said bird looked particularly predatory.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

It was near midnight when Draco Malfoy sighed as he entered his spacious and darkened room. He undid his tie and flung it to across the room. He was exhausted. It was only three weeks into summer and he could not remember when else he wanted to go back to Hogwarts as much as he wanted now.

Draco flung himself onto the king-sized bed with dark green cover. He closed his eyes and reflected on today's event. In the morning he joined his father to Malfoy's Company, which specializes in making magical artifacts as well as breaking curses that were on others. The elder Malfoy had always expected that his son will take over the company once he got older. Draco was dragged into meetings and social parties after that till evening.

Then during the evening his father brought him over to meet a few Death Eaters to learn each of their statuses as he was also expected to join them as soon as he turns seventeen.

Draco rolled over and stared at the photo on his bedside table. It was a picture when he was younger with both of his parents around him. He missed that time, when he was too young to understand the world and too innocent to be expected of evil.

His father would never understand him.

The boy let out another sigh and got up to change out of his dress robes as he strolled to his private bathroom. Suddenly, he heard it, a pecking sound coming from his bathroom. He sped up and went to a window beside a mirror all the time being cautious with his wand in his right hand. Carefully, he moved the heavy curtain covering the window to see what was there.

It was an owl.

"What-?" he whispered as he unlocked the window, letting the bird inside. Said owl swept in and perched itself on Draco's books on his study table.

Draco with a confused frown walked out of the bathroom and walked over to his table while on the way closing the door of his room. The owl looked eerily familiar. He peered to its legs and noticed that neither letters nor packages were found. Anger crept up in him.

"_What in the world is this bloody owl playing?!" _

"Why are you here?" Draco asked crossing his arms. The owl only looked at him with a piercing stare.

"Are you lost?" he asked again only to receive the same stare. He had never known an owl that got lost. After a minute, he turned away from the snowy owl and resumed his task before.

"_I am not in the mood for this, if the stupid owl wants to stay then __**fine.**__"_

Draco, dressed in black sleep shirt and pants, went to sleep fully ignoring the snowy owl that continued to stare at him.

If Draco was not exhausted, he should have noticed that something in the owl's eyes clicked as in confirmation. Something unexpected was going to happen soon.

0000000000000000000000000000

"_Finally" _Harry thought when everything was cleaned up and he was back in the safe confinement of his barren room. It took him a little over half an hour to get upstairs and it was late in the evening. He carefully laid himself down on the bed on his stomach, being extra careful not to exaggerate his back. His mind was numb from any thought and all he knew was no more as darkness crept into his view.

He dreamt that night of his friends at school, one of the rare happy dreams that he got during the summer.

"_I miss you guys…" _


End file.
